HATS OFF IN LIFTS.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18237, 22 November 1924, Page 2

HATS OFF IN LIFTS.

COURTESIES IN SYDNEY, (jEOl I OTO OWN COBRZSPOHDEBT.) , SYDNEY, ".November 13. In Sydney, as in few other parts of the world probably, the male portion of the community, or at least a big section of them, haive departed from the conventional courtesies by always, 111 the presence of ladies, taking off their hats m lifts. 'l'no question whether men should remove their hats in lifts when women are present —it has given rise to many piquant and entertaining controversies m the open columns of the Sydney Prees—has been revived afresh by the cabled report that the Prince of Wales staggered several typists by removing bis hat when ascending in a New York lift in their presence. This, of course, has brought joy into the camp of those who fear that the custom will gradually be undermined by the uncouth males who persist in getting into lifts without taking their hats off. These latter, however, and not a few of the womenfolk themselves, feel that the compliment of baring the head in lifts is something of a counterfeit coin of politeness, for these modern Bayards are not always consistent. It is not at all uncommon, for instance, to see a man enter a lift, observe a woman there, and immediately take his hat off, but at the same time cling tenaciously to his pipe and commit the greater offence, at least to some women, of exhaling his 6moke in every face and of making the lift a little Vesusius. Thus the custom which has grown up is hot without its absurdities. Again it ia argued, and rightly, that if men take off their hats in lifts, why not in trams and trains and in every other public place where they are brought into women's company? From the standpoint of health, it is contended that men, especially those with little or no hair, risk severe colds by their obedience to this new custom.